Meat encasing machines of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,191,222 utilize a chuck member on the down-stream end of the stuffing horn or tube. The chuck holds back the hollow tubular shirred casing that is slidably mounted on the stuffing tube and imposes a longitudinal drag on the casing as the casing emerges from the end of the tube as meat emulsion discharges from the end of the tube into the casing. Without this dragging action, the meat emulsion will not stuff tightly enough into the casing. These conventional chucks are rotatably powered and serve the second purpose of providing rotational force or torque to the casing so that the casing will be twisted at a point where the pinchers of the conventional linking apparatus pinch the casing together.
Elongated longitudinal flutes inside the conventional chucks engage the casing as it is being filled. These flutes must be exactly the right size so that the filled casing will have sufficient engagement with the flutes to provide the right amount of dragging force without providing so much dragging force that the casing will burst with an excessive amount of meat emulsion. In addition, the flutes of the conventional chucks must have enough grip on the casing to provide rotary force for rotating the casing to cause a twist in the link.
It has always been a compromise to design a chuck small enough to bite into or dent the casing sufficiently to give adequate rotational force, and at the same time, still have the chuck large enough so that it will not cause too much drag on the casing to cause overstuffing. Conventionally, it is necessary to use a chuck that is just the correct size for each casing. As soon as that chuck wears slightly, it must be replaced. In actual practice, chucks are considered expendable and are replaced every day or so. This amounts to a considerable maintenance cost.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide a chuck member for meat encasing machines which can effectively grip a meat-filled casing for adequate rotational purposes without, at the same time, imposing excessive longitudinal drag on the casing.
Another object of this invention is to provide a chuck member for meat encasing machines which can handle several different sizes or diameters of casing.
A further object of this invention is to provide a chuck member for meat encasing machines which will resist wear and which will not have to be replaced frequently if at all during the life of the meat encasing machine.
These and other objectives will be apparent to those skilled in the art.